


I'll Come for You

by coral_dragon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, There's swearing, also lance makes a sex joke, and blood, and lance killing galra, he has terrible timing, he's not happy, keith gets captured and tortured by the galra, klance, they took lance's bf, torture mention warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-09 09:20:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7796209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coral_dragon/pseuds/coral_dragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A dreamt memory of a whispered promise is the only thing that Keith has left as he's tortured relentlessly by his Galra captors.</p>
<p>"I will always come for you."</p>
<p>He hopes Lance keeps his promise soon. He might not have much longer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Come for You

**Author's Note:**

> I needed some klangst. So I wrote it?
> 
> I also realised while re-reading this in preparation to post, I really like making a big deal about how talented Lance is? He doesn't get enough love, honestly.

“Hey, Lance.” Keith had muttered once, in the dark of the night, to the boy curled against him.

Lance had hummed and nuzzled into Keith’s chest, the only indication that he hadn't fully fallen into the sleep that pulled at them both after a hard day’s training.

And in the pitch black of the room, with the person he loved beyond all else, he voiced his deepest fear.

“If we were seperated, would you look for me?”

Cold air filled the gap where their bodies once touched as Lance moved back to be able to look him dead in the eye. Keith shivered, but from the cold or the fierce look in Lance’s eyes, he couldn't tell.

“Keith, babe. I swear to God; to the stars we live amongst. I swear to Voltron, to King Alfor, to all we fight for and everything I believe in. I promise you, even if you were at the farthest reaches of the universe, in the middle of the biggest Galra war fleet we had ever seen, I would still come for you.”

Keith scrunched his eyes closed, fighting against the heat that meant tears were threatening to fall. His head bent forward to meet Lance, who pressed soft lips against his forehead.

“You're not alone anymore, Keith.” He whispered softly into the sound of Keith’s sobs.

It wasn't until he had finally worn himself out and the relief of sleep could no longer be denied, that Keith whispered back.

“Thank you.”

And with that, blackness enveloped him.

 

\--------------------------------

 

Keith’s eyes cracked open through the dried blood that was caked over them. His mouth twisted into a bittersweet smile at the memory that had surfaced in his dream.

He hadn't really expected the exact situation Lance had described that night to become a reality. Well, he was exaggerating slightly. From what intelligence he had gathered in between the torture and interrogations (he had never been the type to just sit and wait), he had learnt that he was definitely not at the far edges of the universe, nor was he being guarded by a particularly huge fleet. But it was close enough.

The loud sound of metal scraping and banging shook Keith from his hazy thoughts.

“Rise and shine, princess!”

Keith let out a groan.

“Aw, man. Just five more minutes!” He had learnt far too much sass from Lance and Pidge.

The huge Galran soldier snarled, and he stepped forward to backhand Keith across the face. The metallic taste of blood hit Keith’s tongue once again.

“Don’t get cocky with me, human brat. I think we’re getting close to wiping that smug look of your face.”

Although he caught himself from making another snarky comment, Keith’s eyes burned with a fire that refused to die as he glared back. He was tired; so, so tired. As he was dragged out of his cell, he tried to remember how many sessions of this he had lived through. Was it ten? Or had he passed ten yesterday? Or the day before? He could barely remember how long he had been here already.

But Keith was holding desperately on to the only thing that was keeping him sane and awake.

Hope.

Well, maybe hope was the wrong word. It was stronger than hope. It wasn’t a maybe. It was a definite. Built into a promise made in the desperate anxiousness that flared during the night, by the one person who kept his demons at bay.

Lance had sworn.

Keith knew logically that even without this promise, the Paladins of Voltron would come for him. They were a team. They were a  _ family _ . They protected and trusted each other. And Keith trusted them. But it was Lance’s promise that no matter where Keith was, or how dangerous it was, he would come for him; that was the thing keeping Keith alive.

So Keith allowed himself to be led to the room that he hated the most. It smelt like the piss and sweat and dried blood that was now embedded in it from what was likely years of torturing innocent victims. He let himself be strapped to bench and retreated into his own mind. All he could do was block out the pain, block out the sound of his own screaming, lock all his knowledge away with his consciousness and make sure he never betrayed his team. This was not something they had ever trained for. They were still kids. The whole Voltron gig hadn’t even felt real for such a long time. But this… fingers and toes being broken again and again, hot pokers and serrated knives tearing at his skin… only to get thrown in a healing pod so they could repeat it all the next day. His innocence -  _ their _ innocence - was long behind them.

 

\---------------------------------------

 

Keith startled awake, his eyes snapping open as he tried to jolt upright. He immediately regretted the movement as his head spun and he nearly passed out again. Just how much blood had he lost this time? He ran his tongue over his dry lips as he lay where he was on the cold metal floor of his cell, and tried to focus. Something had woken him. A noise? Had he dreamt it? He wasn’t sure, his grip on reality had been slipping recently.

A loud ‘boom’ reverberated through the ship and Keith pushed himself into a sitting position, slower this time. He was alert, ears straining as they tried to catch other clues to the situation. It had sounded distinctly like an explosion and he needed to know what was going on.

The options were simple enough, really. An experiment gone wrong or a rogue prisoner were the least likely. The Galra were very good at keeping a tight leash on anyone or anything that was in their domain. Which meant that the ship was being attacked. What Keith needed to know was whether the attackers were on his side or not. The Galran Empire had many enemies, but not all of them were also friends of Voltron. Unfortunately, either way, if his torturers decided he was more risk than gain, he could be dead before friend or foe arrived. He wasn’t exactly in any state to fight back.

A tickle caught at the back of his dry throat, throwing him into a coughing fit. He gagged, for once glad that there wasn’t any food in his stomach, and nearly missed the discussion outside his cell door. He couldn’t hear much, but what he did hear brought had him grinning for the first time in far too long.

Voltron.

They had found him.

They had come to rescue him. Like he had always known they would. He would finally get to go back to them, but to the only place he had ever really considered a home.

The door to his prison slid open and Keith had just enough time for his grin to drop into a scowl before he was scrambling backwards, trying to put as much distance between him and his jailers as possible as two Galra guards stepped into the room. One of them was his usual tormentor.

“Well, well, princess. Looks like your Cavalry has arrived. Too bad you'll be dead by the time they get here.”

Keith's back quickly hit the wall; he didn't have much space to work with. He bristled. Being this close to freedom but having it unreachable was going to drive him insane. He closed his eyes as the barrel of a gun was levelled at his face, and waited for the shot. All he had wanted was to see the others once more. Shiro, Hunk, Pidge, Allura, Coran…

A shot sounded.

_ Lance. _

“Get the  _ fuck _ away from my boyfriend, you purple freaks!”

Keith’s eyes snapped open. That shot hadn't been for him. One of the guards crumpled to the floor in front of him, head smoking from a single, deadly accurate shot. Behind him, standing in the doorway, was Voltron’s Blue Paladin, eyes wild and furious, a scowl on his face.

Never had Lance looked more terrifying.

And never had Keith loved him more.

“What the- Fine! I'll kill you fir-”

Keith's unnamed torturer never even got to finish his sentence. Lance was an unparallelled sniper, his speed and accuracy bordering on legendary. At this distance no one stood a chance.

“Keith! Keith! God, Keith, babe! I can't believe I found you.”

Lance rushed forward, ignoring the bodies on the floor to drop to his knees in front of Keith. In an instant, their lips met in a fast, desperate kiss that lasted mere seconds. Keith’s hand came up to grip onto Lance’s arm with all the strength he could muster. It wasn't much.

“Lance.” He croaked out, voice weak. “You came.”

Lance couldn’t help the giggles that escaped him and he smiled at Keith with his usual crooked grin and a wink.

“Not for weeks, babe.”

Keith stared at him for a moment, not quite believing the fact that Lance had made such a joke in such a tense situation. And then he snorted a soft laugh, because of course he would. It was just so  _ Lance _ . Lance, who was so intent on making everybody else happy, making light of a horrid situation so that Keith would be slightly distracted from his pain.

“Yeah, I got him, hold up.”

Lance had returned to speaking into his helmet, communicating his progress with the rest of the team. Then he was removing it and placing it on to a confused Keith instead.

“Say hi to the others, babe. They wanna know you’re alive.”

Keith smiled, meeting Lance’s eyes.

“H-hey.” He croaked out.

“Keith!”

“It’s good to hear your voice!”

“You sound like shit, man!”

“Thank the stars! Keith!”

He was suddenly deafened by a cacophony of joyous shouting, but he frowned. He could hear the fighting going on around them. Taking the helmet off, he handed it back to Lance.

“We need to leave.”

“Yeah,” Lance quickly agreed. “Can you walk?”

Keith honestly wasn’t sure, but he took Lance’s offered hand anyway. Lance watched him with concern. He knew how he looked; emancipated, bruised, covered in dry blood, and sleep-deprived. Not even he was sure what how his body was still managing to function.

Though, it clearly wasn’t functioning that well as his legs gave way the second he put weight on them. Lance caught him before he hit the ground, quickly shooting off a request for Hunk’s assistance into his microphone.

 

\----------------

 

The rest was mostly a blur for Keith. With Lance on high alert for attacks, Keith had finally felt safe enough to relax into his arms, his mind losing its grip on consciousness. He vaguely remembered flashes of yellow as Hunk had arrived and picked up his battered body. Lance had whispered reassurances at Keith until he had realised that his hand had refused to release its hold on Lance.

After that, Keith remembered even less. All he knew was that they got out, reasonably unscathed. Voices echoed around him, yelling and serious at first, then calmer and worried, but full of relief. Eventually, Keith hadn't been able to stay awake any longer and his body gave in to the exhaustion that plagued it. He needed rest. Darkness engulfed him.

 

\-------------------

 

Keith’s eyes opened slowly as he came to. His body felt languid and slightly cold. He recognised the hiss of a healing pod opening in response to his return to consciousness. He felt a numb fear quickly take over; he was on the Galra ship, having been forced to heal after another torture session. But something kept his panic at bay. A warmth at his back that wasn't usually there and a gentle weight around his waist that felt like a lifeline to reality.

His mind pulled back to the present, Keith allowed himself to breath normally again. He was safe. He was back in the Castle of Lions with the other Paladins. His nightmare was over. Lance had found him.

Lance.

A groan of someone waking sounded at his ear and Keith smiled. The warmth that shouldn't have been present in the cryochamber was Lance’s body heat, the weight at his middle was Lance’s arms, wrapped around Keith, holding him close. Keith wasn't sure how his boyfriend had convinced the others to let him be in the pod with him (though Lance’s stubbornness and recklessness was second only to Keith's at times), but he was grateful for it. Had Lance known that waking in the pod would cause a panic attack? Or had he just not wanted to leave Keith again? It didn't really matter.

“Hey babe, you awake?” Lance muttered softly.

“Yeah.” Keith breathed back.

Lips pressed gently against his neck.

“It's so good to have you back.” Lance’s voice was cracking with a sudden onslaught of emotion.

“Lance… How long was I their prisoner?”

Silence met his question, but Keith waited it out.

“Two months.” Finally came the whispered response.

_ Two months _ .

Two months he had lost to that hellhole. Two whole months away from the fight, away from his team, away from  _ Lance _ . And he had barely been aware of it. Not that he was too surprised. Lance could have told him anywhere from 2 days to 2 years and he wouldn't have questioned it, his sense of time had been so distorted.

But he couldn't imagine how hard it must have been for the others.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For coming for me.”

Lance’s arms hugged tightened around Keith, like he was scared he would disappear out of reach once again.

“I promised. To the edges of the universe. I will always come for you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on tumblr: legendarydragondefender


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